Let It Be
by butterflyeleven11
Summary: Chapter 7 has been updated... Martin Ruthie Story. Two years is a long time to be away. Will everything change once he comes back to town? Will she still be in love with him? Or has she moved on and forgotten.
1. Pink Roses

Let It Be

By: Butterflyeleven11

Chapter 1: Pink Roses

Quick Summary First: Where are they now?

Two years have past since the almost wedding of Simon and Rose. Sandy turned up at the wedding with Aaron and told Simon that she felt that the baby was his. Simon was shocked at first, but, got a test right away to eventfully prove that in fact Aaron was Simon's son. Sandy and Simon spent several months together getting to know one another and then one night, Simon proposed to his true soul mate, Sandy. She accepted and they got married the following spring in a church by Eric Camden. The entire family was there and so was Sandy's father. Simon and Sandy now live in Glenoak near Eric and Annie.

Lucy and Kevin are happily married still and are enjoying being parents to Savannah and her two younger twin brothers, Richard, after Kevin's father, and Eric, after Lucy's of course. Lucy still helps out with the church and Kevin is still a full-time stay at home dad. He loves it more than anything else. They still live next door to Eric and Annie.

Matt works at the hospital while Sarah stays at home with their sons, Adam and Noah. She works part-time from home consulting with doctors. They are very successful with their careers in both the professional world and as parents.

Mary and Carlos both live in Mexico as they wanted to raise their children, Charlie, Gabriella, and Abigail (they call them Gabby and Abby) there to give them a bit of heritage. Besides, Mary can fly the entire family to Glenoak when she needs too.

Sam and David are both 9 years old and are in the 3rd grade. They have really grown into their own individual personalities. They love helping around the house and love spending time with their siblings and nieces and nephews.

Ruthie is now 18 and graduating high school in a few short months. She's excited about starting college in the fall and getting a degree. She is interested in becoming a therapist. She was always really good at listening to her siblings and friends and felt that this would be the right career for her. For the past year, she has been dating Peter. He has been really kind and has really fallen for Ruthie all over again. Ruthie cares for Peter greatly, but, still in the smallest place in her heart, she still cares for Martin.

Martin never returned to Glenoak. He went on to establish his career with baseball. After the devastating news that Aaron was not his son, he couldn't bear to show his face in Glenoak. He was crushed that he was not Aaron's father, but in a small way, relieved. But, the situation made it hard for him to trust people again. Especially women. He still felt bad for hurting Ruthie so deeply and just didn't know how to mend their friendship. He was sure that she would be his friend again, but, he was scared for how he felt about her. He didn't want to hurt her ever again and he felt that staying away would be the answer.

Now, let's begin with our little story…

"Mom, do you know where my black blazer is?" Ruthie asked as she came down the stairs for breakfast.

"Honey, I don't know. Why don't you just wear your black cardigan instead?" Annie answered back as she was balancing orange juice in one hand and a plate of toast in the other for the boys.

"Well, I really wanted to wear it today; I laid it out last night." Ruthie said as Sam and David started giggling at the table. She immediately shot them a look and said, "So, do either one of you know where's it at?"

"Who, us?" Sam and David said at the same time.

"Yes, you" Annie and Ruthie both said.

"He did it", David said pointing to Sam.

"No, you said too." Sam said in defense.

"It doesn't matter what you did, where is it?" Annie said.

"You'll be mad", Sam said with his head held down.

"What did you do?" Ruthie said walking towards the boys.

"We were chasing Happy and she ran into your room while you were in the shower this morning. We grabbed your jacket to put on top of her to catch her and then white fur got all over it, so we washed it." Sam said without taking a breath.

"You washed it. Boys, you don't know how to wash laundry yet." Annie said quickly walking over to the washing machine.

"Sure we do, we watch you all the time." David chimed in.

Annie opened the washer and gasped and then looked back at Ruthie and said, "Well, I have good news and bad news."

"What?" Ruthie said not amused.

"Good news is we found it. Bad news is, it will now most likely fit Savannah instead of you." Annie said.

Annie reassured Ruthie that she would go to the consignment store to see if they had any other blazers and then talked to the boys about not washing clothes until they were old enough to understand the directions on how too. Ruthie was in a hurry for school anyway and decided to just grab her jean jacket and headed out the door.

"Hi." Peter said walking towards Ruthie.

"Hey", Ruthie said without a smile.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked.

"Brothers", Ruthie said with a small smirk.

"Well, I have a question to ask you." Peter said hoping to change her mood.

"I'm already your girlfriend Peter, so you can't ask me to go out with you again?" Ruthie said with a smile.

"I know that. I'm serious. I have a very important question to ask you." Peter said grabbing her hand and then turning to walk towards his car.

"What?" Ruthie said very curious.

"You'll see." Peter said smiling to himself. He wanted her to be surprised.

Ruthie couldn't help but wonder what it would be. She had no clue till she saw the passenger seat in Peter's convertible. She looked up at Peter and then back down in the seat to what looked like two dozen pink roses with a card on top of them.

"Peter!" Ruthie said in amazement.

"Read the card," Peter said.

Ruthie bent down to grab the card and opened it and smiled as she read it and then looked up at Peter and said, "Of course I will go to prom with you."

Peter smiled and leaned in to give Ruthie a kiss and a big hug. Ruthie thought that was so nice of Peter and then didn't want the flowers to wilt while she was in school. She ran back into the house with the roses pouring out of her hands and smiled at her mom and said, "Peter asked me to prom. Please say I can go".

"Oh, honey, that's wonderful! I'm sure that it'll be fine for you to go. But, I'll need to know all the details of the prom first. You know, location, time." Annie said.

Annie walked over and gave her daughter a hug and scooped up the flowers to put them in water and waved by. She couldn't help but think of how happy she was to see Ruthie so happy.

Ruthie ran back to the car and hopped in the passenger seat without even opening the door and beamed with excitement. She couldn't believe that she was going to prom. As Peter drove down the street, he was very happy.

Now, on any other given day, Ruthie did something in which she always did every time she rode down the street. She would always look at Martin's house. Even though, she knew that he wasn't there and that it was just his dad. She always looked. She didn't know if she was just curious, couldn't get over him, or was just plain crazy. She never made it obvious that she was doing this and no one knew her little secret. She would glance ahead of her at the house and then sideways a little.

But, today was different. She was so happy in this exact moment and even was jamming to a great song on the radio with Peter. They were laughing and smiling from ear to ear. Ruthie held onto one of the roses from earlier. She wanted to carry it around with her. She smelled it and turned to Peter and said, "I can't wait, it's going to be so much fun."

She didn't even glance.

She didn't even look his way.

For if she did; she would have seen Martin Brewer standing at his mailbox watching her every move.

Stay tuned…


	2. Surprise Visitor

Chapter 2

Surprise Visitor

Ruthie and Peter drove off down the street towards the high school. Martin stood there already missing her. He couldn't believe that he had a chance to have her in his life and now it was gone. But, he didn't want to hurt her ever again. Not after the whole mess with Sandy. He took a deep breath and finished putting some letters in the mailbox and walked back towards the house.

He walked inside and started bringing his bag of clothes to the laundry room. His dad stopped him and said, "Martin, you just got home late last night. You don't have to do that right now. Come sit down, have some breakfast."

"That's okay, I'm not hungry" Martin said.

"What's up with you? I thought that you would be thrilled to be home after being gone for so long on the road", his dad said.

"Nothing", Martin mumbled.

"Alright, if you say so. Well, I'm going out for a few hours. I'll see you around 1:00 unless you are already gone to the high school by then", his dad said as he walked out towards the garage shaking his head. He knew his son better than that. Something was definitely up.

Martin couldn't believe that Ruthie and Peter still were going out. He was hoping that it wasn't something that serious. He now wished that he hadn't come home for such a long stay. He was in town for a few weeks. Then, he was going back out on the road to travel with his baseball team. He unfortunately was there to check out some baseball hopefuls at the high school. He had jumped at the opportunity when his coaches were talking about scouting out Glen Oak. He was there with an actual scout, but, thought that he could get some inside scoop with the high school coaches.

Ruthie and Peter walked hand in hand down the isle towards her locker. They stopped and she got her books out of the locker and still was beaming. Peter was so glad that she was so happy. They walked towards Ruthie's homeroom and turned the corner and saw Lucy. Ruthie walked up to her and said, "Hey Luce!"

"Hey guys. I'm here to talk with some students. How are you two doing? I heard of the news of prom?" Lucy said with a smile.

"Gosh, news travels fast in your family." Peter said laughing.

"You talk to mom already?" Ruthie said knowing the answer.

"Yeah, she called me to tell me, uh. To tell me about the prom thing." Lucy said.

"Peter, I'll talk to you later, I need to talk to Luce for a minute. Okay?" Ruthie said.

"Alright. See you at lunch." Peter said.

"Okay, now tell me what's going on. You were about to say something, but you hesitated." Ruthie said with her arms crossed.

"It's nothing. It's not a big deal." Lucy said really hoping that she wasn't the one to bring this up to Ruthie. She didn't know how she was going to react to the news of Martin coming back into town and especially to her high school.

"What's not a big deal, if it's not a big deal, then you can tell me." Ruthie said.

"Okay, but, don't get upset." Lucy said.

"Okay?" Ruthie assured her almost convincingly.

"Martin's in - -", Lucy started.

"Mrs. Kinkirk, so glad that you could make it on such short notice, please, come on in." the high school counselor, Ms. Granger, said.

Lucy smiled back at Ruthie and whispered, "I'll find you later. Talk to you then." Lucy walked into the office and turned back to see a very confused girl.

Ruthie sat there for what seemed like an eternity pondering what it was that Lucy was going to say about Martin. What about Martin? What would she say? This was definitely going to bother Ruthie til she knew. It was like someone opened this hidden door in the back of her head and all of these thoughts were flooding her mind. She walked down the hall in almost a daze. Friends of hers past her by and she didn't even notice them waving hi. She walked into her homeroom and sat down still in deep thought.

Meredith smiled at Ruthie and noticed her pink rose and said, "So, who's the rose from?" knowing it was from Peter.

"Ruthie" Meredith said.

Ruthie turned to her and said, "Oh, the rose. It's from Peter."

"Well, is it a special date?" Meredith asked.

"No, he just asked me to prom", Ruthie said.

"Don't act too excited." Meredith said jokingly.

"No, it's not that. I am thrilled. I am very excited. It's just that I was thinking of something." Ruthie said. She didn't want to bring up the subject of Martin up with Meredith. She didn't know how Meredith would react to that seeing as Martin and she were very close and dated.

Meredith not wanting to pry said, "So, what are you going to wear?"

"I have no idea." Ruthie said with a smile, happy to be thinking of something else for the time being.

The two friends talked about prom and Meredith talked about who she would like to go with. She was single and not seeing anyone.

Meanwhile, Martin arrived to the school and immediately felt all of the memories come back to him. He really enjoyed going to this school and made some really good friends here. He walked down the hall towards the baseball coach's office. He glanced into the rooms as he would walk past. He didn't know if he was searching for her or just looking out of curiosity.

He came to the coach's office and knocked on the door. The coach opened the door and greeted Martin and asked him to come on it.

Martin was a little surprised to see who was already there. It was Peter.

"Martin, this is one of my senior varsity players for the team, Peter Petrowski. Peter, this is Martin Brewer. I'm sure that you remember him on the team a couple of years ago", said Coach Potter.

"Yes, I remember. Hi Martin. How are you?" Peter said surprised as well to see him. His first thought was of Ruthie and how she was going to react to seeing him. He then started having some self doubt in their relationship, but, knew that Ruthie would never do anything. She was happy.

"Hi Peter. I'm doing okay." Martin said sitting down in the empty seat next to Peter. Martin could not believe his luck. The coach asked Peter to go back to his homeroom and began in talking to Martin about the team.

Peter walked down the hall towards Ruthie's homeroom. He wanted to talk to her first. He almost got there when he saw Lucy. Lucy walked towards him and said, "Hi. Do you know where Ruthie's homeroom is?"

"Yeah, I'm actually going there now. I need to talk to her." Peter said.

"Everything okay? You seem a little bit stressed." Lucy said.

"Yeah, everything's just great. Just wonderful. Here I am with a great girlfriend and we are happy as can be and then he has to show up." Peter vented.

"So, I see that Martin's already here today." Lucy said.

"So, you knew he was coming here. Why didn't you tell me, Luce?" Peter asked.

"Well, I didn't think that you would care, honestly." Lucy said.

"I don't. Why would I? I mean, she's over him," Peter said and then added, "Right?"

"Of course she is. She's with you, isn't she?" Lucy said trying to reassure Peter trying to make him feel better. Peter was a nice guy and really cared about Ruthie.

"I think that you should go to your homeroom. You have nothing to worry about." Lucy said.

"You really think so?" Peter asked.

"Yes, positive", Lucy said hoping that she was right.

Peter slowly walked away to his homeroom. Lucy turned and realized that Peter forgot to show her where Ruthie's homeroom was. She decided that she would just talk to her later. Besides, Ms. Granger would be wondering why it took so long for Lucy to go to the bathroom.

Stay tuned…


	3. To Tell or Not to Tell

Chapter 3

To Tell or Not to Tell

Before she even knew it, Ruthie was heading to lunch. It had been a weird day for her. Her sister seemed to know something about Martin and she wasn't able to see her again. Peter acted strange in the hall after their first class together. He must know something too. She decided that it was meant for her to know, she would find out.

Ruthie grabbed her lunch bag out of her locker and headed down to the lunch room. She scanned the lunchroom for Peter. She smiled as she saw him and started to walk towards him. Then she saw that he was in deep conversation with Meredith. He was looking around and then back at her almost like he was watching out for someone. Ruthie walked up behind him and said, "Hi".

"Uh… hi. When did you get here?" Peter said almost shocked.

"Just now, so what are you two talking about?" Ruthie said looking from Meredith to Peter.

Meredith nervously bit her bottom lip and looked to Peter for him to answer. Ruthie looked at Meredith with a 'you better tell me' look that only best friends give one another. Meredith tried to ignore the glare and started gathering up her things at the table. She looked at them both and said, "See you later, I… I have to go take care of some things."

"Well, somebody better tell me what's going on here", Ruthie said staring directly at Peter.

"It's nothing, let's just eat", Peter said sitting down at the table.

Ruthie hesitated and sat down anyway. Now, she really wanted to know what was going on. It wasn't the kind of thing like when you think it's a good surprise either. You know, like right before your birthday and you wonder if someone's throwing you a party. There was a tension. She had no idea what was going on, but, she would eventually find out one way or another.

She decided to try to ask Peter once more and if he didn't answer her, then, she would just let it go.

"Will you please just tell me what's going on?" Ruthie said.

"I can't. I'm sorry, but, I just can't." Peter said quietly.

With that, Ruthie decided to just let it go. She sighed and looked down at her packed lunch and suddenly did not feel hungry at all. She looked around the room and everyone was happily talking with one another. She envied them. She wanted to be happily talking about things with Peter. But, instead, they sat in silence.

Meredith walked as fast as she could to the girl's bathroom. She hated keeping things from Ruthie, but, she felt that she wouldn't understand. She walked into the bathroom and checked to see if she was alone. She was. She went into a stall and sat down and tears rolled down her face. She couldn't believe that Martin was back in town and didn't even give her a call. He didn't even stop by and say hi. He was here in the same high school as she was and he didn't say one word. She couldn't believe that she still cared for him, perhaps still loved him. She sniffled a little and stood up and walked out of the stall over to the mirror to check to see how puffy her eyes were. They weren't too bad and she dabbed them a little and paced the bathroom wondering what to do. Then she wondered in the back of her mind, just a little bit, did Ruthie still love Martin? She remembered how Ruthie had told her that she loved him. She dismissed this thought almost as soon as she thought it because Ruthie had Peter now. She seemed very happy with him and now they were going to prom.

Meredith walked out of the girl's bathroom with one final look at her face to make sure it didn't seem like she had just been crying. She walked down the hall and for whatever reason headed down to the baseball field. She spotted him sitting there in the bleachers and almost turned around. Almost. She walked up to Martin as nervous as the first time they went out, and said, "Hi Martin."

Martin turned and smiled and got down from the bleachers and said, "Hi Meredith. How are you?"

"Fine. Great. Couldn't be better. And you?" Meredith said.

"Doing fine. I'm here to look at the team for any hopefuls with my team scout." Martin said.

"Well, I don't want to disturb you; I just wanted to say hi. Peter had told me that you were here." Meredith said.

"Yeah, I ran into him earlier." Martin said.

"Yeah, he told me. Well, I guess I just wanted to say hi." Meredith said realizing that now she had said that twice.

"Well, hi. I wanted to talk to you anyways." Martin said.

"Really", Meredith said a little bit too excited.

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you about us. I'm sorry for the way things turned out between us. I know that was hard a couple of years ago and that things got really messed up. I'm sorry." Martin said.

"Hey, it's in the past. It's okay. That was years ago. We are both different people now." Meredith said trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal.

"Well, I'm not that different. I'm pretty much the same guy. Are you different?" Martin asked.

"Uh, I guess not, well, not really." Meredith said with a slight embarrassed laugh.

"So, are you and Peter friends?" Martin said.

"Yeah, we all hang out a lot. Peter, Ruthie, and me." Meredith said.

"Ruthie?" Martin said not realizing he just said that out loud.

"Yes, what about her," Meredith said.

"Oh, nothing. I guess she's doing fine." Martin replied.

"She's doing great. Peter and she are extremely happy and they are even going to prom together." Meredith added with a smile.

"Wow…" Martin said.

"You don't seem too happy there." Meredith said with a hint of jealously.

"Oh, I mean, that's great. I'm happy for her. For them. I'm glad that they have each other. Well, I need to go back to the coach's office. I'm sure that he's looking for me. It was really great seeing you Meredith. Tell Ruthie that I said hi." Martin said walking towards the gym entrance.

Meredith sat there and watched him walk away from the field and she sighed slightly and wondered if it would be horrible of her not to tell Ruthie. Maybe Peter was right; Ruthie doesn't really need to know that Martin is here.

"How in the world am I going to keep Ruthie from seeing Martin for 3 weeks?" Meredith mumbled to herself.

Stay tuned…


	4. Come on Over

Chapter 4

Come on Over

Martin pulled up to his house and sat there for a minute in his car. He couldn't believe that he went through a whole day and did not see Ruthie once. He knew that he wanted to see her at some point during his time in Glen Oak; he just didn't know when that was going to be.

Martin was startled by a knock on his driver side window; he jumped and turned to see none other than Reverend Eric Camden. He smiled and got out of the car and said, "Hi, Reverend Camden."

"Good to see you Martin after all this time. How are you?" Eric said patted Martin on the shoulder.

"I'm good. I'm really busy with the team and I'm here for a few weeks." Martin said.

Eric said, "Yes, I know. I've talked with your dad. He's really glad you're in town. We all are."

Martin smiled, "I am too. It's nice to see everyone."

"So, have you talked to your dad today yet, Annie called him earlier and she invited the both of you over for dinner tonight." Eric said.

Martin's eyes widened, he didn't know how he was going to face Ruthie at dinner after being here for two whole days without saying anything to her. He almost tried to come up with some sort of excuse, but, decided not too. Besides, this would be a great chance for him to see Ruthie and finally talk. "So, will everyone be there?" Martin asked.

"Yeah, I think Lucy and Kevin and their kids and of course all of us." Eric said with a hunch that Martin was checking to see if Ruthie was going to be there. Eric always felt that Ruthie and Martin would end up together one day, but, since Peter came into Ruthie's life again, he didn't know.

"What time?" Martin asked.

"I think it's at 6:30, but, your dad will know for sure. See you then." Eric said as he walked down the street to his house.

Martin turned and headed inside for a quick shower.

Peter dropped Ruthie off in front of her house and she seemed to be in a hurry to get out of the car.

"Everything okay?" asked Peter.

"Uh, I just have a lot of homework to do and I need to talk to Lucy anyway. I'll see you later, okay." Ruthie said as she turned to head towards Lucy's house.

"Wait, I'll walk you over." Peter said jumping out of the car catching up with Ruthie.

"It's really okay, you don't have too. I think that I'm capable of walking next door." Ruthie giggled.

Just as they headed across the yard, Kevin was out in the yard with the dogs and the kids. He waved to Ruthie and Peter just as he was being tackled by the kids. He loved playing with them in the yard.

"Hi Ruthie, hi Peter", Kevin said through a tackled laugh.

"Auntie Ruthie!" Savannah said as she ran over to hug her. Ruthie bent down to hug her back. She couldn't resist a hug from one of her favorite nieces. The boys shortly followed and ran behind Savannah as fast as their little two-year old feet could take them.

"So, you two will be at dinner tonight, right?" Kevin said.

"Dinner? You only say that when there's someone coming to dinner." Ruthie said curious.

"You don't know. We are having a welcome home dinner for Martin. He's back in town for a few weeks. I'm surprised you didn't run into him at the high school. He's been there all day." Kevin said completely unaware of the ripple he just caused.

Ruthie's mind went completely blank. She thought to herself, did he just say what I thought that he said. Peter turned to look at Ruthie to see her reaction. She didn't react, she just stood there.

"Well, that's nice." Ruthie managed to say. She looked past Kevin and saw Lucy coming out to the yard and Ruthie crossed quickly so that she could talk to her. She remembered Peter and turned and said, "I'll see you at dinner. It's probably at 6:00 or something. Just hang out here with Kevin for a minute, okay."

Ruthie grabbed Lucy's hand and went inside her house.

Peter looked at Kevin and said, "Great."

Kevin looked and said, "What did I say?"

"Oh, just the name that I've been avoiding to say around Ruthie all day long." Peter said bummed.

"You knew he was there, didn't you?" Kevin said.

"Yeah, I knew since early this morning. I ran into him in the coach's office. I haven't told Ruthie because I didn't want her to know. I thought that I could keep it from her til he was gone. Things were going so great with me and her. I asked her to prom today and it was a perfect day. Til he showed up again." Peter vented.

"Well, I don't think that Ruthie likes Martin. I mean, she used too. But, that was a long time ago. She's with you, isn't she? But, don't let her find out that you knew he was here and you didn't tell her. Martin was one of her closest friends and no matter what, she will care for him. She may not love him, but, she will always care." Kevin said.

"You are starting to sound like your wife" Peter said.

"Well, marriage has a tendency to do that to you. You start to rub off on one another." Kevin said shaking his head.

Lucy looked at Ruthie and immediately knew.

"So, how did you find out?" Lucy said.

"Kevin", said the still stunned Ruthie.

"Sorry, I was going to tell you this morning. I wanted you to be prepared." Lucy said.

"I think that I'll be okay. I mean, it's just Martin." Ruthie said almost trying to convince herself.

"Yes, it's just Martin. Martin Brewer, the guy who… who… well, let's not go into that. Is Peter coming to dinner too?" Lucy said.

"Yeah." And then Ruthie thought about how jealous Peter was of Martin and said, "This isn't good. Peter is going to try and act overly boyfriend-ish around him."

"Well, he is your boyfriend." Lucy said.

"I know. It's just that I wish I could talk to Martin alone. I haven't seen him since he left to go see Sandy when Aaron was born and then he went to the whole baseball thing when he found out that Aaron wasn't his. I feel like I've been on the outside looking in of his life for the past two years. I don't even know what I'm going to say to him when I see him." Ruthie said as almost unleashing a string of emotions inside of her locked heart.

"Well, whatever you say, I'm sure you'll think of the right thing to say. You always do." Lucy said.

"Luce……. What if I still love him?" Ruthie said not really asking as a question, but, just more of a statement.

"Well, then, I guess you better figure that out. Because, you've got a great guy out there who is totally in love with you and his name is not Martin." Lucy said as she faced Ruthie to the side window towards the front yard.

Ruthie took a deep breath and started to say something but Lucy knew what it was and said, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about our talk".

"Thanks." Ruthie said, "I'll see you later". She walked out into the yard towards Kevin and Peter.

"Peter, I'm going to go work on my homework before dinner, okay. See you later. Thanks for the ride home." Ruthie said.

"Okay. Sure, I'll see you later. Do you want to talk?" Peter said waving bye to Kevin and the kids and walking with Ruthie.

"About what?" Ruthie said knowing exactly what Peter wanted to talk about.

"Martin", Peter said thinking to himself that he can't believe that he just said that.

"What about him?" Ruthie said trying to not sound interested.

"Well, I mean, I guess, I … I … "Peter said stumbling over his words.

"What Peter, what is it." Ruthie said.

"Do you still like him?" Peter said quickly.

"To be completely honest with you, I have no idea how I feel about someone that I haven't seen in over two years. I know that I really like you and I am happy with you. That's what I know." Ruthie said hoping that was enough.

"Well, that wasn't exactly the answer I was looking for." Peter said. He wondered what tonight would hold. Would Ruthie see Martin and drop him in a minute. He was definitely going to show Martin who Ruthie belonged.

"Sorry, but, that's the answer I have for you. I'll see you tonight." Ruthie said with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She walked into her house and as she went up the stairs to her room she walked over to the window almost without thinking and looked towards Martin's house.

"Lord, give me strength for tonight", she whispered.

Stay tuned.


	5. Dinnertime

**Chapter 5: Dinnertime**

Ruthie was finishing up her homework for English class when she heard her mom calling her from down stairs to come help with dinner. She closed her book and looked at the clock on her nightstand. It read 5:30. She thought to herself, one more hour and they will be here. Two guys that have been a big part of her life, this was going to be so awkward. She stood up, glanced at the mirror, ran her fingers through her hair a bit, and headed down stairs. She walked into the kitchen and smiled at her mom and said, "I'm here to help."

Annie looked over at her daughter and knew that this would be a bit awkward for her and said, "Honey, I know tonight be somewhat difficult for you, but, it'll be just fine, you'll see."

"I know." Ruthie said hoping that was the last comment regarding tonight's dinner she'll have to hear from her mom.

"So, why aren't Sam and David helping out, I thought that they loved helping you in the kitchen." Ruthie asked.

"Well, they are outside in the backyard playing", Annie said. "Why don't you go out there and tell them to come inside."

"I don't mind helping mom", Ruthie said.

"It's okay, go on outside and tell them to come in. You don't have to come back in til dinner time," Annie said.

"Okay…" Ruthie said as she opened the back door. She saw the boys taking turns catching a baseball. She could almost sense that he was there. She almost felt her heart stop as she walked to the edge of the porch and saw him for the first time in over two years. At first, no one knew she was out there. She enjoyed the moment and thought about what she could say. Then she remembered about the boys going in to help with dinner.

"Sam, David, mom wants you to go help out in the kitchen", Ruthie said looking strictly at them and not at him.

Martin looked at Ruthie and he felt his heart ache as it did this morning when he saw her with Peter. He walked towards the porch as the boys dropped their gloves and ran inside.

Ruthie walked to where they dropped their gloves and picked them up. Martin walked over to her.

For the briefest moment, they stood almost as they were the only ones in the entire world. They gazed into each other's eyes desperately wanting the other person to say something first. Martin took a breath and said, "Hi Ruthie."

"Hi." Ruthie said. She couldn't help but feel somewhat resentful for the silence Martin had given Ruthie for the past couple of years. She walked over to the picnic table and placed the gloves on the table.

"How are things with you?" Martin said really not wanting to hear about Peter.

"Good, I guess. How are things with you?" Ruthie said.

"Good." Martin answered and then asked Ruthie to go for a walk.

She didn't see the harm in it and knew that her mom was most likely watching from the window and waved as she headed out towards the sidewalk. This made Martin laugh. "Some things never change," he said with a smile and waved too.

"Yes and some things do change." Ruthie said not really wanting to be rude or mean. She was hurt. She didn't realize how hurt til she had Martin face to face.

"I'm sorry for everything," Martin said.

"Why didn't you call? I mean, Sandy showed up at the wedding, well, the almost wedding of Simon and Rose's and you never once called. I thought that we were friends", Ruthie said almost fighting back a tear.

"I know. It was really hard to hear that Aaron was not my son. In a very small way, I guess I was a little relieved. But, it was hard being ripped from his life after only a few months of getting to be his father. I never had feelings for Sandy, but I truly loved Aaron. I still do. He'll always have a place in my heart. As for Sandy, she made mistakes, but, we all do. I wish nothing but the best for her and Simon." Martin said.

"That still doesn't explain why you didn't call me or come see me." Ruthie said.

"Well, I don't know if it's really the best time to go into all that." Martin said.

"Why?" Ruthie asked.

"Well, we each have different lives now and I don't need to come here to change everything." Martin answered.

"What is it? Please just tell me, it's the least you can do." Ruthie insisted.

"Okay, I'll tell you. You see, I really felt horrible that night that I had to tell you that Sandy was supposedly pregnant with my baby. That was the worse feeling in the world. After that night, I knew that I would never hurt you again. I don't want too. I figured that if I stayed away, there was no way of me hurting you again." Martin said.

"That's the most messed up thing I have ever heard you say" Ruthie said shaking her head.

"Why's that?" Martin asked.

"Because, when you didn't call, didn't write, and basically just ignored me for two years, that hurt more than that night." Ruthie said.

"I'm sorry." Martin said reaching for her hand.

Ruthie turned to Martin and said, "Are you attempting to hold my hand, Mr. Brewer."

Martin smiled. "No. Well, maybe."

Ruthie didn't want to tell Martin that she had a boyfriend, but, felt she needed to for her loyalty to Peter.

"Well, I don't think that now's really a good time for that." Ruthie said.

"Why?" Martin asked already knowing the answer to the question.

"It's Peter. I am sort of dating him." Ruthie said.

"You don't seem too happy about that." Martin said smiling inside.

"I am. He's a great guy. He's really sweet and cares for me a lot." Ruthie said.

"Do you care for him a lot?" Martin asked.

"Yes, what a silly question. Of course, I care for him. I mean, he is my boyfriend." Ruthie said.

"Well, I guess what I meant to say is, do you love him?" Martin asked surprised at his own question.

"That's kind of personal, don't you think." Ruthie said avoiding the question.

"Sorry. I was just..." Martin started and then stopped.

"Just what?" Ruthie said wanting to know.

"Just curious" Martin finished.

Martin and Ruthie continued to walk around the neighborhood talking about the past two years and for a brief time, it felt like old times. Two best friends talking. They realized that it was getting close to dinnertime and started to head back to the house.

"They are going to wonder where we are." Ruthie said.

"I know. I can just see your family's faces now." Martin laughed.

"Yes, that's my family." Ruthie said and then stopped, "Oh no, what about Peter?"

"What about Peter, we didn't do anything wrong. You didn't even hold my hand. We just went for a walk and talked." Martin said.

"It's not that. Peter was probably at my house at 6:00 and I wasn't there and you weren't there. My brothers probably told him that I was off with you somewhere. You see, Peter can get kind of jealous sometimes. Especially when it comes to you." Ruthie said.

"Why would he be jealous of me?" Martin asked.

Ruthie shot Martin a look as if to say, 'you know why'. Then she said, "Hello, you are the guy that I was in love with." Ruthie could not believe that she just said that out loud.

Martin stopped Ruthie and said, "Were you really in love with me?"

Ruthie looked down at the sidewalk and then up at Martin, "Yes, but that was a long time ago."

They walked in silence for about a quarter of a mile and started turning on the street where they both lived. Ruthie could see Peter pacing in front of her house and she said, "Great. He's mad."

Martin looked up ahead and said, "It's okay Ruthie, don't worry. We didn't do anything wrong."

"I know, besides, it was nice getting to talk to you away from everyone else. Now I'm not so nervous." Ruthie said.

"I was so nervous. It was so hard being at the school today not coming to find you." Martin said.

"Really", Ruthie said.

They were about three houses away from the Camden's and the pacing Peter. Peter walked up to them and glared at Martin and then grabbed Ruthie by the hand and pulled her away looking back at Martin.

"Peter, stop it." Ruthie said pulling her hand away from his. "We were just catching up on old times and walking."

"Sure you were." Peter said angrily.

"We were." Martin said.

"Ruthie, I need to have a talk with Martin for a minute, would you mind?" Peter said.

Ruthie shook her head but, walked into the house anyway. Her family stopped what they were doing and looked at her. She looked over at her mom and said, "Peter's going to try and kill Martin."

Sam and David both ran for the window and said, "Really!"

"No, not really. Peter just wants to talk." Ruthie said rolling her eyes.

Annie and Eric shared a look and then Annie said, "Boys, get away from the window."

"But, we want to watch them fight." Sam said.

"There's not going to be a fight." Kevin said as he walked outside.

"Look Martin, you are not to see her ever! Not while you are here, not while you are away! She is over you!" Peter said.

"Peter, we are friends. Ruthie is a big girl; she can decide who her friends are." Martin said.

"Not when it comes to you. I'm her boyfriend, not you." Peter said. He was jealous of the fact that Martin and Ruthie went on a walk. He hated the fact that Martin got to spend time with Ruthie alone. He was so afraid of losing Ruthie to Martin.

Kevin walked up to them and said, "Okay, I think it's best if we go inside and have some dinner."

Martin was relieved to see Kevin and didn't feel like fighting with Peter. He walked on ahead and went inside. Kevin put his hand on Peter's shoulder and asked him to stay outside for a minute so that they could talk.

"Peter, you have to calm down. You are acting like Ruthie and Martin have done something. They went for a simple walk." Kevin said.

"Yes, without me. They were alone. They were gone for almost an hour." Peter said.

"Do you honestly think that Ruthie would do something to hurt you?" Kevin said.

"No. I just don't trust him." Peter said.

"Well, Martin's only here for a few weeks. Besides, didn't you ask Ruthie to prom? When's that?" Kevin asked trying to change the subject.

"It's in 3 weeks. Wait, when is Martin leaving?" Peter asked worried.

"I don't know, I think he's leaving on the 22nd?" Kevin said.

"Are you kidding me, the prom is on the 20th, of course he would be here in town for that." Peter said shaking his head.

"It'll be fine Peter." Kevin said.

"You think so?" Peter said as they headed up the steps into the Camden household.

"Yes." Kevin said.

They both walked in and saw that most of the family was helping bring in the dinner to the dinning room.

Peter walked into the dinning room and saw Ruthie sitting down on one side of the table. He grabbed the seat next to hers and smiled at her as he sat down. She wasn't amused. "Peter, we need to talk later."

"About what?" he whispered.

"Later." She whispered back.

Martin came in and didn't want to cause any more friction between Peter and himself, so he decided not to sit down yet. The family came in and Martin's dad arrived and they all sat down around the table. As they did this, the only seat available for Martin to sit in was the one directly across from Ruthie.

Stay tuned…


	6. Anyone want some dessert?

**Chapter 6**

**Anyone want some dessert?**

Well, needless to say, dinner was uneventful with all of the awkward silence between Ruthie and Peter and Peter and Martin. Annie and Eric talked mostly with Kevin and Lucy and Mr. Brewer. Ruthie sat and tried not to stare at Martin so that things wouldn't get worse between her and Peter. But, she did need to talk to Peter about some things. She really didn't like how Peter got so angry. She wasn't really hungry and turned to her mom and asked to be excused.

"Well, I guess. But, would you mind bringing in the dessert? Anyone want some dessert?" Annie said looking around the table.

Ruthie got up and went to the kitchen and Lucy followed.

"You okay?" Lucy asked.

"No", Ruthie started, "how can this be happening. Peter is so mad and angry at Martin when all we did was go for a walk. Why does he get like this?"

"What do you mean, get like this. Doesn't he know that you and Martin are just friends?" Lucy asked.

"Well, apparently, he thinks that I'm going to cheat on him or something of that nature. I guess I'm not allowed to have guy friends." Ruthie said getting a little frustrated.

"Well, he'll have to get over that. I mean, you and Martin are going to remain friends. He lived in this house when his father was off in war and you two were best friends for that whole time. Peter has to know that you wouldn't hurt him." Lucy said.

"You would think that, uh?" Ruthie said grabbing the pineapple upside-down cake from the fridge.

"I'll bring that in, why don't you go check on the dogs next door and take your time. You look like you could use a break away." Lucy said with a knowing big-sister smile.

"Thanks Luce." Ruthie said as she quietly snuck out.

Lucy brought in the cake and put it down on the table and grabbed some saucers and Annie looked up at her with a look of 'where's Ruthie'. Lucy whispered, "It's okay. She's next door."

Annie smiled and started serving the dessert all around. Eric went into the kitchen to get some coffee and milk to go with the cake.

"Where's Ruthie?" Peter asked Eric in the kitchen.

"Um, I don't know. I thought that she was here. Perhaps she went outside for a minute." Eric answered.

"Well, I need to go talk to her." Peter said.

"Why don't you give her some room, Peter? She'll be fine and she'll come find you when she needs to talk. Okay." Eric said.

"You don't understand Mr. Camden; I need to talk to Ruthie." Peter insisted.

"I think I do understand, let's go eat some dessert, then when Ruthie comes back, you two can talk." Eric said.

"No Mr. Camden! I need to talk to Ruthie now!" Peter said as he walked out the kitchen door almost slamming the door behind him.

Eric had never seen this side of Peter before and he was frightened for Ruthie for the first time since she had started dated Peter.

Eric walked into the dinning room and motioned for Kevin. Kevin got up and excused himself. Martin couldn't help but notice the since of urgency from the Reverend and hoped that everything was okay. Neither could Lucy, Annie, and Mr. Brewer for that matter.

Kevin and Eric walked into the kitchen and Kevin said, "what's wrong, Dad?"

"I don't know yet. But, Peter just left really upset to go and find Ruthie. Do you know where she is?" Eric asked.

"No, but, I think that Lucy does. Hold on a second." Kevin said.

Kevin walked back into the dinning room and apologized for the interruption and asked for Lucy to come into the kitchen. This time, Annie got up and went with Lucy to the kitchen. She was just as concerned now.

"What's wrong?" Annie said before anyone could say anything.

"Where's Ruthie?" Eric said.

"She's at our house checking on the dogs, why?" Lucy said.

"Kevin, go check on her, everyone else, let's go back and sit down. It's okay." Eric said.

"No, everything is not okay, what's going on Eric?" Annie asked.

"It's Peter. He left really upset and I was worried about Ruthie, that's all." Eric said.

Annie and Eric watched as Kevin left the house and looked at one another.

"You don't think that he would hurt her, do you?" Annie said worried.

"No. Not at all. Peter is just really upset right now and I don't think he knows how to deal with his emotions right now. I don't want him to scream or yell at Ruthie. That's all." Eric said.

Kevin walked outside and saw Peter pacing the yard. This made Kevin feel better somewhat.

"Peter, come sit down, let's talk" Kevin said walking over to the bench.

"No, I don't want to talk to you, or anyone else other than Ruthie!" Peter said.

"Why are you so angry right now?" Kevin said sitting down hoping that Peter would follow his lead.

"I don't know. I just feel so mad. I can't believe that she acts like this is no big deal." Peter said calming down.

"It's not a big deal, Peter." Kevin said.

"Really? Did Lucy ever go walking with a guy while you two were dating and she was gone for an hour and that guy so happened to be a guy who she was in love with for years with?" Peter said sarcastically.

"No. I know that situation is tough, but, you are making this a lot hardier on yourself than it has to be. You are acting like they did something on that walk when all they did was just that. Walk." Kevin said.

"How do you know that they didn't do anything on that walk?" Peter said.

"Because, I would never do anything to hurt you like that." Ruthie said as she walked back into the yard from Kevin and Lucy's house.

"Well, why do you want to be his friend?" Peter asked. "He hasn't been a part of your life for years and now you want to be his friend again. You act like nothing happened. Well, something did happen while he was away, you got a boyfriend. ME!" Peter said.

"Don't yell at me." Ruthie said calmly.

"Peter, there's no need to yell at anyone." Kevin said standing up.

"Shut up Kinkirk!" Peter said and then instantly regretting it.

Kevin tilted his head to one side and didn't say anything. He knew that Peter didn't mean it, but, he wanted Peter to calm down. "I think it's best if you leave now."

"Yes, I think it's best too." Ruthie said standing behind Kevin.

"Ruthie, this is not the last you'll hear from me. I will not let you go. You belong to me!" said Peter in one final straw.

Ruthie stepped from behind Kevin and said, "Peter, it's over." She was calm when she said it but she was very hurt. She had never been treated like this before and she didn't want to be treated like this ever again by him.

Peter felt a rage inside of him; he knew that he was upset and that he shouldn't have said those things to Ruthie. But, he was angry. Not at her, at Martin. Martin is the one who he wanted to yell at. Not her. He didn't know what to do.

"Ruthie, it can't be over." Peter said walking towards her.

Ruthie got back behind Kevin and said, "Go home Peter."

"NO! It's not over Ruthie!" Peter yelled. This time, everyone inside of the Camden household heard. Annie and Lucy went to the kitchen and saw Eric standing at the window.

"What's going on out there Eric?" Annie asked as she ran over to the window too.

"Ruthie and Peter are fighting and Ruthie is breaking up with Peter." Eric said.

Back outside…

"Yes, you have changed. You have changed into this person in one day. I feel like you can't trust me at all. Why should I be with someone who doesn't trust me?" Ruthie said with tears streaming down her face.

"I do trust you, well, I trust you when he's not around." Peter said.

"Who, Martin? All we did was walk." Ruthie said.

"Whatever, I know how he feels about you." Peter said.

"You have really hurt me Peter. I don't want to see you," Ruthie said.

"Well, when you don't have your bodyguard standing by, we can talk privately and work this out." Peter said looking at Kevin.

"There's nothing that you can say to fix this." Ruthie said.

"I'll see you tomorrow Ruthie. I'll come by and pick you up for school and we can talk then." Peter said.

"No. I don't think so." Ruthie said walking up to Peter. She wanted him to understand completely 100 percentthat it was over.

"It's over." Ruthie said quietly to him.

"No, we can fix this." Peter said as a tear streamed down his face now.

Ruthie didn't want to fix it. She saw a different side to Peter tonight and that was an ugly, jealous side. She never wanted to see that side again.

Ruthie turned away and walked towards the house and Peter made one final ditch effort and grabbedher arm. She jerked awayin doing so he grabbed the other arm and then had both arms. She tried to get away but couldn't.

She had tears in her eyes and looked at Peter and screamed, "Let me go! Let me go!"

Before Peter had time to blink, Kevin had stepped in and pulled Ruthie away from Peter as Eric, Annie, Lucy all ran outside.

Peter was instantly ashamed and didn't mean to hurt her in anyway.

"She just wouldn't listen to me." Peter said trying to explain.

"Go home Peter, now!" Kevin said strictly as he held Ruthie to him.

Peter did not want to cross Kevin. Kevin was in cop mode and Peter knew that it was best for him to go home now. He tried to apologize to Ruthie who was now crying into Kevin's chest.

Peter slowly walked away and got in his car and headed down the street.

"Ruthie! Are you okay?" Annie said running over to her daughter.

"No, mom. I'm not." Ruthie said through tears.

Lucy ran over to Kevin who seemed to be in shock.

"Kevin, you okay?" Lucy said.

"I haven't been a cop for so long, I feel like I should have stopped that before it got out of hand. But, I also thought that they should work it out some and it just didn't go the way I thought it would. Peter was so angry and so jealous. I never knew he got so upset before. I worry that he has done this before." Kevin said watching Annie and Eric bring Ruthie inside.

Lucy gave Kevin a hug and said, "You did great. You were here to stop it before it got carried away."

Martin came outside to see what all the commotion was about. He walked over to Kevin and Lucy and said, "Why was Ruthie so upset?"

"It was Peter, they had a big fight" Lucy said.

"But, why was Annie asking if her arms hurt? Did he touch her?" Martin said getting mad.

"Martin, it's okay. He's gone." Kevin said.

"Did he hurt her?" Martin said looking at Lucy.

Lucy couldn't help it but nodded. Martin was furious. He looked out towards the garage and saw Peter's car was already gone. He was somewhat glad because he might have had to have words with him if he was still there.

Martin looked towards the house and wanted to go and comfort Ruthie but, didn't feel like it was the right thing to do just yet. He sat down on the bench outside and wondered how he was going to go to that high school the next day without telling Peter who he could lay his hands on.

Stay tuned…


	7. First Kiss

_(A/N:Sorry so long for the 7th chapter. I just moved and was without a computer for two weeks. But, I'm back now and I hope that you enjoy reading my story. Thank you all for your reviews and reads!)_

**Chapter 7: First Kiss**

Ruthie rolled over on her side and clutched her pillow close to her. She thought for a second that it might have all been just a bad dream but knew instantly as she sat up in her bed realizing that she had fallen asleep in her clothes from the night before. She walked over to her mirror and saw how puffy her eyes were from crying. She glanced over at the clock and saw that it still thirty minutes til it was time for her to get up for school. She decided to go ahead and get ready early before everyone else.

Across the street, Martin was up too. He was pacing his room and still mad at Peter. He didn't want Peter to hurt Ruthie and he was going to have talk to him today. But, his main concern at this moment was Ruthie. He didn't want to leave her alone outside to wait for the bus; he decided that he was going to drive her to school. He started getting ready so that he could.

Ruthie felt much better after taking a nice long shower and getting ready for the day. Her eyes didn't seem too puffy now and she felt like perhaps she could just move on and forget the whole mess with Peter. She came downstairs to Martin sitting at the kitchen table having some cereal with Sam and David. She smiled and was happy to see him.

"Hi" she said and then adding, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I thought that you might need a ride to school and seeing that I am going there myself, I thought that I could give you a ride?" Martin said.

"Sure," Ruthie said sitting down reaching for the cereal from Sam who was reading the back of the box.

It became instantly easier for her to forget the whole thing with Peter as she sat there and looked at Martin. He was so kind and she knew that he would never ever hurt her or not trust her. She smiled and said, "It was nice of you to come by."

"Anytime," Martin said.

They finished their breakfast and Annie waved bye to Martin and Ruthie as they headed outside.

Ruthie almost screamed when she saw Peter standing there at the bottom of the steps and she reached for Martin who was already standing in front of her.

"Peter, what are doing here? Go away, I told you I don't want to see you anymore." Ruthie said stepping out from behind Martin.

"See, this is what I was talking about. I'm out of the picture for not even a day and you are already running back into his arms. I knew there was something between you two." Peter said.

Martin looked at Ruthie and then back at Peter and said, "I don't really have time to deal with you right now, but, you need to get out of my way."

"You want me out of your way, make me!" Peter snapped back.

"You're not worth it", said Martin as he reached for Ruthie's hand and walked by Peter and headed across the street to his car. They walked quickly and Ruthie couldn't help but look behind them to make sure that Peter wasn't there. Peter was still standing in her driveway by his car and she was scared. She never knew that Peter could make her scared. She tried not to cry, but, couldn't help as she sat down in Martin's car while he walked around to the driver's side.

Martin looked back towards Peter who was standing facing him arms opened saying, "Come on, Brewer. You chicken?"

Martin rolled his eyes and opened his car was sadden to see Ruthie upset. He reached for his bag in the back and grabbed a clean t-shirt and brought it up to Ruthie's face. "Don't cry."

"Why does he have to be so mean?" Ruthie said.

"I don't know. But, he's not going to hurt you. I won't let that happen." Martin said putting his hand on her shoulder.

Peter couldn't see what was happening in Martin's car, he was so mad he could scream. He went back to his car and slammed the door shut. He saw Kevin and Eric headed over to him. He was worried about what they were going to do.

Kevin walked up to Peter's window and knocked. Peter slowly rolled it down.

"You are to leave Ruthie alone." Kevin said.

"And what makes you think that she wants me to leave her alone?" Peter said.

Eric stepped up closer to Peter and Peter saw Eric more furious than he had ever seen him, "You will leave my daughter alone or I will have a restraining order put against you. I am sorry that you are so angry and upset right now. But, you really need to talk to someone and I'm sorry, that can not be me. I will not stand by and let someone harm my daughter. So, I hope that you understand me and Kevin when we tell you, not ask you, tell you that you will leave Ruthie alone."

Peter had never felt so little in his life. He never thought that it was possible for Eric to get this upset. He immediately straightened up in his car and nodded as he pulled away respectfully and went down the street.

Kevin looked over at Eric with a huge grin, "I'm proud of you, Dad."

Eric looked over at Kevin and said, "No one hurts my family."

"I know exactly how you feel; I'm glad that you talked to him. I think that you got through to him." Kevin said.

Kevin and Eric went towards the house and didn't even realize that the whole time Martin and Ruthie were still sitting there in Martin's car across the street.

Ruthie felt better and turned to Martin and said, "Thanks for coming over today, I don't know what I would have done if was just Peter and me by myself. He scares him now."

"Has he ever been like this before?" Martin asked.

"No. Well, I guess not. He just always had this thing about you. He didn't like it when I talked about you at all." Ruthie said almost blushing remembering how just yesterday she had admitted to Martin that she loved him years ago.

"Well, you don't have worry about Peter. I would never let anyone hurt you as long as I am around." Martin said.

"I know", Ruthie said with a small smile.

"Well, we better get going; you don't want to be late for school." Martin said.

"Do you think that you could miss a day of your scouting?" Ruthie asked somewhat joking.

"Ruthie Camden, are you suggesting what I think you are?" laughed Martin.

"I was just kidding, sort of. I really don't feel like going to school today and I definitely don't want to face Peter." Ruthie said.

"Well, school will be over before you know it and how about we do something afterwards." Martin suggested.

"Really?" Ruthie said as they headed off towards school.

"Yes, really. Why do you seem so shocked?" Martin asked.

"No reason. That'll be nice. I'll just let my mom know later." Ruthie said.

"Okay." Martin said smiling. He actually felt better and felt like he could have a chance with Ruthie if he took things slowly.

Ruthie sat there thinking about how much her life changed in the past 24 hours. She was very content sitting in Martin's car beside him as they drove off to school. It brought back many memories as well as many feelings. Ruthie thought that she could easily forget how much she loved Martin, but, little did she know, those feelings were going to come back to her stronger than ever.

Ruthie wasn't paying attention and rested her hand down beside her to only find her hand right next to Martin's. She took a breath and decided to hold his hand. She would see how he would respond. Martin took hold of hers and smiled but didn't look at her. She liked that he smiled; she liked a lot of things about him.

They got to school and Martin parked out by the track near the coach's office.

"Well, we are here. Are you ready for a full day of school?" Martin said smiling as he turned to Ruthie.

"Yes, but, I do want to tell you something." Ruthie said.

"What's that?" Martin asked.

"Thank you. Thank you for being there for me." Ruthie said and she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.

But, that's not where the kiss landed. Martin and Ruthie had found themselves in their first kiss. They kissed for a few seconds before Ruthie backed away suddenly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean too." Ruthie said blushing.

"I'm not sorry. And I hope that you meant too. I have wanted to kiss you for a long time." Martin said.

Ruthie smiled.

Martin leaned in towards Ruthie and kissed her once more. Ruthie could feel her heart pound and knew from that moment on, Martin was the guy she had been waiting for all along.

Stay tuned…


End file.
